WHAT is it?

Innovation Hack 13 - Whenever you fall in love with an idea, ask yourself:
”What assumptions am I making?”

After defining all the assumptions ask this follow-up question
“How can we test these assumptions in a cheap, quick way?”
The question above is an alternative to destroying your idea with a pre-mortem - Innovation Hack 5 - Kill Your Own Darling.

WHY is it important?

The assumption question checks how well you thought about your idea and how aware you are of your assumptions. A critical way of looking at an idea is especially important after the ideation phase. It makes the solution more robust.

WHEN can it be used?

We basically know nothing about the quality of an idea. I’d always encourage you to take a critical look at your idea by asking yourself “What assumptions am I making here?”.
You’ll probably come up with assumptions like
I assume it’s the right design,
I assume people are going to love it,
I assume people are willing to pay for it,
I assume it’s one of the most important things for the customers.

Now, ask yourself “How can we test these assumptions in a cheap, quick way?”. After that, instead of bringing the idea to life, rather run small tests to validate if your assumptions are true or not.